The Challenge Cup final next weekend is being talked up as the most anticipated in years – and if Hull FC and Warrington serve up a finale as dramatic as this we are in for a real treat. Rugby league is yet to give the new Wembley a final that proves to be an absolute classic, but with the league’s top two making it there – and both sides heading to the stadium off the back of wins – there is a feeling that could all change this year.
Although Hull and Warrington both won their final test before the journey to the capital, they did so in very different ways. Hull had the envious position of sitting back and watching the weekend’s action unfold after thrashing Catalans Dragons 44-0 on Thursday night, whereas Warrington had what many would consider a good warmup for a final, being pushed every step of the way by Castleford.
The Super 8s has been devoid of a real thrilling contest in the opening three weeks so, in many ways, this felt like a fitting hors d’oeuvres ahead of Wembley next week.
Jack Hughes’s try, seconds before the hooter, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the Wolves, who had trailed thanks to a Luke Gale drop goal, two minutes from time, which had looked to have kept Castleford’s top-four hopes alive.
The Tigers have made a mockery of the notion that some teams have nothing to play for in the Super 8s. Already victorious against Wigan and Hull in the opening fortnight, they had looked poised to make it three from three until Hughes’s last-gasp try.
“I thought it was a good way to warm up for the final,” Tony Smith, the Warrington coach, said. “I’ve got some decisions to make about my team for Wembley and to get the top-four spot sewn up too, that’s a big positive.”
Castleford had defended admirably in the opening quarter before eventually being breached by Joe Westerman’s try, but that was as good as it got for the Wolves in the opening half, as Castleford’s game management began to take hold of proceedings. They levelled when Denny Solomona’s try was converted by Gale, before the scrum-half added two penalties either side of the break to put the visitors in front.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with Castleford holding the Wolves at bay before Rhys Evans’s try in the corner made it 10-10. With the game level, both sides pushed for a late winner via a drop goal, and although Chris Sandow hooked two attempts wide, Gale did not miss with two minutes of the game remaining, to make it 11-10.
But Warrington, refusing to be beaten, rolled the dice from the kick-off, regathering and keeping the ball alive long enough for Sandow to loop a pass wide for Hughes to touch down and, like Hull, secure their place in the play-offs before their Wembley showdown on Saturday.
